Tensions simmer in Beirut as strikes hit civilians and war stokes division
The Israeli strike near the heart of Beirut on Thursday, further afield from Hezbollah strongholds in the south, is leaving residents on edge and worried about how a widening impact could stoke Lebanon's deep, long-running sectarian divisions as more civilians unaffiliated with or openly opposed to the Shia militant group pay the price for its conflict with Israel.
Joseph Sayegh, a 45-year-old ophthalmologist living in Zalka in eastern Beirut, said Hezbollah’s “suicidal behavior” was dragging ordinary Lebanese civilians into conflict. "Aren’t they aware that they are compromising civilians when they stay among them?” he said. “Israel is using this excuse: it says we are just hitting the leader’s residence, this is not true. We are all very disturbed.”
In Beirut's Hamra neighborhood, 37-year-old housewife Amal Itani echoed Sayegh’s concerns and said Hezbollah risks further dividing Lebanese society. “Every strike that is directed towards innocent civilians is not accepted at all,” she said. “Civilians are being used as human shields.”
Sayegh criticized Hezbollah for endangering lives, saying it was the militant group’s duty to stay away from civilian areas. “We are all very anxious, and if this going to continue, it will aggravate the tensions between Lebanese,” she said.
Others are holding Israel responsible for stoking division in the country.
Imane Haidar, a 28-year-old makeup artist displaced from Tyre in southern Lebanon, said her relatives had been displaced three times and that “Israel is creating a big sectarian strife, this is not to mention the massacres and the destruction.”
She said there had been “enough killing, enough destruction” and wondered how the rest of Lebanon would handle the number of displaced people.
“How long will people afford to stay on the streets?” she said. “We are down the drain.”
U.S. presidential envoy discusses cease-fire with Lebanese PM
U.S. Presidential Envoy Amos Hochstein spoke on the phone with Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati to discuss ways to reach a cease-fire and prevent further escalation.
Mikati's office said in a statement that the pair discussed returning to a political solution based on U.N. Resolution 1701, which laid out the terms for a cease-fire in the 2006 war.
100 countries voice support for U.N. secretary-general after Israel declares him persona non-grata
More than 100 U.N. member states have signed a letter in support of the organization's Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz declared him "persona non grata" and banned him from entering the country.
The letter, initiated and signed by South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Mexico and Uganda, among others, condemned Katz' statement and outlines the group's “full support and confidence in the Secretary-General and his work.”
Tensions have continued to rise between Israel and the U.N. as the U.N.'s international Court of Justice and the independent International Criminal Court considers cases for genocide and war crimes against Israel. Israeli prime minister Netanyahu has called the U.N. anti-Israel, and the Israeli military has received international condemnation for its attacks this week on the U.N.'s peacekeeping forces in Lebanon.
The U.S. did not sign the letter in support of Guterres.
49 killed in 24 hours, say Gaza health officials as death toll climbs past 42,000
Israel’s yearlong assault of the Gaza Strip has killed 42,175 people, health authorities in the besieged enclave said today.
At least 49 people were killed and 219 injured in just the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said, with another 98,336 people injured and many others still under rubble and on roads unreachable by ambulance and civil defense crews.
Ahmed Al-Kahlout, the director for northern Gaza's civil defense, says that 250 people were killed in his area over 8 days since Israel renewed its offensive there. The attacks have included encircling the Jabaliya refugee as well as on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians.
U.S. expands Iran sanctions following missile attack
The U.S. announced new sanctions on Iran's petroleum and petrochemical sectors yesterday in response to Iran's missile attack on Israel two weeks ago.
The move targets key sectors of Iran's economy in a bid to deny the government funds to support its nuclear and missile programmes.
“The new designations today also include measures against the ‘Ghost Fleet’ that carries Iran’s illicit oil to buyers around the world,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
“These measures will help further deny Iran financial resources used to support its missile programs and provide support for terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and partners.”
Northern Gaza at risk of famine, says World Food Programme
No food aid has entered northern Gaza since October 1, the World Food Programme said in a statement today as it warned of famine in the area.
Israel has intensified a renewed offensive on northern Gaza this month, and has issued evacuation orders for much of the north. The WFP said many of the crossings into the north had been closed, blocking aid from entering.
“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” said Antoine Renard, WFP Country Director for Palestine. “People have run out of ways to cope, food systems have collapsed, and the risk of famine is real.”
U.N. says displacement in Lebanon worse than 2006 war
The number of people displaced in Lebanon by the current conflict with Israel has surpassed the number displaced by the 2006 war between the two countries, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.
In a statement released today, UNRWA reported that almost 700,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, though the real number is thought to be as high as one million.
It added that the majority of public schools were being used as government-managed shelters.
For Lebanese abroad, helplessness and anxiety as they watch the war from afar
Lebanese around the world are having sleepless nights, watching the news, trying to get in touch with their parents and friends, feeling helpless about the war raging in their homeland. Even as they perform the normal rythms of everyday life, their anxieties are heightened by the distance: They are away, and the news is disturbing.
Sandra Sobh, 46, lives in Dubai where she works as a school teacher. She told NBC News she is struggling to live a normal life, waking up at 3 a.m., and watching the news before preparing her children for school. While at work, she and the other Lebanese teachers and employees are absorbed by the developments, are constantly sending each other messages about the situation.
Some of her colleagues have displaced parents, dead family members, their houses demolished. Some have lost contact with their loved ones, leaving them grappling with the fear and hope of the unknown. "Don’t think that we are in a better situation because we are away," Sobh said.
Georges Hamad, 52, moved to France in 2006 during a monthlong war between Israel and Lebanon. “When you are away, the news is amplified. You start imagining the situation, even though you’re monitoring what’s happening," Hamad said. "I feel guilty, because I have a normal life and my country is being destroyed."
"Our heart, our emotions, and our mind are in Lebanon," he said. "I hope this time is going to be the last time and the end of all our sufferings.”
Some Lebanese expatriates cope by trying to support their homeland from afar.
Salim Rachad, 49, works in a call center in Canada. He says the Lebanese community is sending donations and trying to help take care of families, but that the distance between him and home has left him feeling hopeless.
“How would you feel if you are away and cannot help?"
Israel warns that ambulances could be targets in Lebanon
The IDF said today that Hezbollah has "increased its misuse of emergency vehicles" and that any vehicle shown to contain "armed operatives" is a military target.
It said medical teams should "maintain distance from members" of Hezbollah and not to cooperate with them.
Israeli has come under criticism for targeting ambulance and emergency services vehicles during its invasion of southern Lebanon.
A member of the Lebanese Civil Defense Team told NBC News two weeks ago that Israeli strikes had destroyed 40 ambulances in the previous 10 days and that many people had died in the ambulances. Emergency services have repeatedly plead for protection as neutral entities carrying out essential services in the conflict.
The Isreali military has been repeatedly condemned for its attacks on ambulances and hospitals in Gaza, including a U.N. report this week that accused Isreal of the "crime against humanity of extermination" for its “concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system.”
Israel 'should stop killing innocent people,' says Iran president
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has been doing rounds in the region as the conflict widens.
In Turkmenistan yesterday, Pezeshkian addressed Israel via a Russian state TV reporter on the sidelines of an international meeting: "I would like to say to Israel: Stop, stop killing innocent people, stop bombing residential buildings, people who have nothing anyway."
"Israel has violated each and every international agreement," Pezeshkian siad. They do it because they know that the US and the EU have their backs."
Israel is currently weighing up its response to the barrage of missiles sent by Iran two weeks ago, with Iranian military and energy infrastructure emerging as the most likely targets.
Pezeshkian also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkemnistan, underscoring the cooperation between America's adversaries. Support for Iran by a nuclear-armed Russia will likley factor into an assessment of a strike on the country.